✞ January 2018 ✞ Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church Our Mission: We are a welcoming family in Christ who serves by celebrating and sharing our many gifts. V I S T A S The Year of John: Trippy and Drippy with Gospel “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” John 1:1 When I was in seminary, during one fantastic lecture on the Gospel of John, I couldn’t help shouting out: “Wow! John is a trip!” My professor laughed and nodded in agreement. As he continued to wax poetic about this Gospel lyricist, I started sketching this cartoon of a modern-day John the Evangelist: cigarette, funky hat and glasses, quirky Belgian accent, pen packed with cosmic creativity and joie de vivre. I don’t believe John wrote the Gospel: he drew it...then added vibrant, rich, Parisian colors! And all of these extravagant eccentrics only lead us to the most glorious message of unrelenting Divine Love, pointing us faithfully to this one incarnate, Christ Jesus our Savior, the Word made flesh. The traditional, medieval image for John is the eagle. Martin Luther said the Gospel of John soars the highest in its view of Christ (God’s own self, come down to our dark world). The eagle was believed to be the only animal that could look directly at and actually fly to the sun. The Gospel of John, more any other book in the Bible, describes God’s deep incarnation and love in such extreme, cosmic terms. Hard to put into words, really. And so the artists, musicians, poets and dancers among us must be convened. At SVLC we’ll be in John until Easter. Here are some themes to watch for as we take this Gospel trip: 1) John is about experiencing God, not simply talking about God. To actually feel love is to know God’s grace. It’s one thing to hear the Good News in church, it’s another to be lavished with a hug, a delicious meal, a warm bath, a soft robe, a glass of wine. Can you taste it, smell it, feel it? There is this tactile — incarnational — quality to John’s witness! And the images always point to extravagant grace, beauty and truth. 2) Because John was written in the late 1 st /early 2 nd century, Christians were under persecution, so the community that gathered around John was small, tightly-knit, deeply spiritual and therefore had lots of “insider” language. Indeed, Jesus’ statements in John often seem pretty cryptic. This doesn’t mean John is trying to be exclusive; it’s just that outsiders can’t understand. One has to be brought in, from darkness to light, from not knowing to knowing God. “Come and see,” Jesus will say in John. 3) “John’s purpose was to strengthen the community with words that bear eternal life and love” (my New Testament Professor David Rhoads). The very relationship Jesus has with God — which is intimate, loving, deep and salvific — is offered freely for you and me too! John’s Gospel guides us into this relationship, dripping with abundant life and grace. 4) For John everything is sacramental. Interestingly, there’s no Last (Passover) Supper in John! Jesus washes their feet the day before the Passover and tells them/us to love one another. In this way, John opens all creation up to become a cornucopia of images that bear the love and divine mark of God. 5) Jesus. Is. God. This truth, one may argue, can be a little more vague in the other Gospels, but John hammers home Christ’s absolute divinity. And this “God from God, Light from Light” (Nicene Creed) has come to dwell with and love us...even here, even now. How’s that for a ‘Happy New Year’?! Bienvenue à l'Année de John! Pastor Dan JANUARY EVENTS Jan. 6 - Work Party and breakfast, 7:15am at SVLC Jan. 8 - Bible Study at SVLC, 6pm Jan. 14 - SVLC Council Retreat, at the Jordan’s House Jan. 15 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Jan. 16 - Gather Bible Study, 10am Jan. 17 - Worship & Music Arts Meeting, 11am Jan. 20 - “Kitchen Cabinet” Cooking session Jan. 22 - Bible Study, 6pm Jan. 27 - Quilting at SVLC, 9am - 4pm Jan. 28 - SVLC Youth Night 5pm - 7pm Jan. 28 - Baptism of Landon & Sophia Baca Jan. 29 - Bible Study, 6pm UPCOMING EVENTS Feb. 4 - “Undie Sunday” for Common Ground Feb. 10 - Reading of the Book of John, 9am at SVLC Feb. 11 - (Tentative date) Congregational Meeting
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✞ January 2018 ✞
Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church OurMission:We are a welcoming family in Christ who serves by celebrating and sharing our many gifts.
